Atherington is a pleasant village and parish on an eminence, 7 miles S.S.E. from Barnstaple, 8 miles W. by S. of South Molton, and E.N.E. of Torrington. Its parish is in Barnstaple union, archdeaconry, rural deanery, and county court district, Braunton petty sessional division, Northern division of the county, and North Tawton hundred. It had 578 inhabitants (285 males, 293 females) in 1871, living in 110 houses, on 3326 acres of land, and includes the hamlets of Langridge and Eastacombe. The Rev. A.C. Bassett is lord of the manor of Umberleigh, which extends over this and High Bickington parish, and had an ancient chantry chapel, which was pulled down in 1800. Buriate is an estate belonging to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; and Wooton belongs to the representatives of the Melhuish family. The manor of Umberleigh was formerly held by the Beaumonts, whose heiress (Jane Beaumont) carried it in marriage to Sir John Bassett, ancestor of the present owner. Risdon says that Athelstane had a palace at Umberleigh, and that he founded a church at Atherington, which he endowed with two hides of land.
